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Dharamsala, April 16: Rohit Sharma smashed a splendid 38-ball 68 (6x4, 3x6) as Deccan Chargers Hyderabad tamed Kings XI Punjab by five wickets in Match 51 in IPL-2010 at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium here on Friday night.
Led by Sharma’s brutal assault, Deccan Chargers Hyderabad made light of the Kings XI Punjab’s target of 175 at this scenic IPL venue. The winners made 178/5 in 19.1 overs and gathered two more valuable points to inch closer to a semi-final spot. With 14 points from 13 matches, Deccan Chargers Hyderabad jumped to fourth spot in the table. The 2009 champions play in a do-or-die battle against Delhi Daredevils in the last match. Kings XI Punjab tasted their ninth defeat from 13 matches. The bottom-placed Kings XI Punjab end their campaign with a match against Chennai Super Kings at the same venue.
Deccan Chargers Hyderabad skipper Adam Gilchrist’s poor form continued. The left-hander was dismissed in the second over, giving a catch to extra cover off Irfan Pathan for 9. Monish Mishra made a 21-ball 20 before falling to a doubtful lbw decision to Vikramajit Malik to a delivery which was going down the leg side. But the in-form Tirmulasetti Suman (43; 31 balls, 3x4, 3x6) flourished in the company of Rohit Sharma. The third wicket pair punished the erratic Kings XI Punjab bowling. They put on 66 runs off 40 balls before Suman was out. He fell to leg-spinner Piyush Chawla who induced him to cut to keeper Kumar Sangakkara. Deccan Chargers lost their fourth wicket when Andrew Symonds played a wrong line to Juan Theron to be bowled for 4. Deccan Chargers Hyderabad were 126/4 in 14.3 overs at that stage. However, the clinical Sharma, with a calculated assault, took the wind out of Kings XI Punjab attack. The solid Sharma looked in great touch as he pulled and drove Deccan Chargers Hyderabad to their seventh win of the tournament.
It was the same old story for the Kings XI Punjab bowlers. They were toothless. They bowled a bad line and length to be sent on a leather hunt. Theron 1/32) and Chawla (1/24) was the best bowlers on view for the home side. Earlier, Mahela Jayawardene hit a sparkling 93 not out off 62 deliveries (13x4, 2x6) as Kings XI Punjab posted a challenging 174/3 in 20 overs. Jayawardene and Yuvraj Singh put on 86 runs in 8.3 overs before the later was out in the last over for 20-ball 20. This was after Deccan Chargers Hyderabad’s Ryan Harris struck with the fifth delivery of the match. The Australian fast bowler forced left-hander Shaun Marsh (0) to edge to wicketkeeper Gilchrist. It was an all-Australian affair in the dismissal.
Kings XI Punjab rallied through the second wicket partnership between skipper Sangakkara (52 off 37 balls, 9x4. 1x6) and Jayawardene, who added 86 runs in 10.3 overs. Sangakkara was all class before his reverse sweep off leg spinner Rahul Sharma spelt his doom as Ojha held the catch at short fine leg. The classy Jayawardene, who was dropped by Rahul Sharma in Pragyan Ojha’s first over, struck four successive boundaries off left-arm swing bowler RP Singh in the 17th over. The former Lankan captain reached his half-century off 49 deliveries. Purple Cap holder Ojha, who has captured 18 wickets from 12 matches, went wicketless from two overs. But RP Singh (4-0-51-1) leaked too many runs. Harris and young Marsh bowled splendidly to contain the Kings XI Punjab batsmen before Jayawardene cut loose in the slog overs.
Deccan Chargers Hyderabad had a huge setback with last match’s man of the match Harmeet Singh being ruled out because of an injury and leg-spinner Rahul Sharma came in his place. Mitchell Marsh of Australia was included in place of Herschelle Gibbs. Kings XI Punjab, too, made two changes. Off-spinner Ramesh Powar and Love Ablish were dropped and in their place Vikramjeet Malik and Shalabh Srivastava were included. Shaun Marsh made his return to the team in place of Adrian Barath.
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